US President Donald Trump signed an executive order [White House executive orders website] on Monday that will lift an Obama-era directive [text] that restricted local police agencies’ access to military equipment. Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke Monday morning to the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) [union website] outlining the president’s new executive order. The FOP and other law enforcement groups have led the push to reverse the Obama administration policy in order to better respond to local unrest. The Trump administration’s objective [USA Today report] of lifting the controversial ban is to recycle military surplus, distribute potentially lifesaving gear to local police, and to reinstate grants that local police may use to purchase military equipment from other sources. Trump’s executive order will take effect immediately.

Trump’s executive order reverses an Obama-era directive that sought to alleviate tensions following the aftermath of the Ferguson rioting. Ferguson gained international attention after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown. The response to the shooting set off massive protests and social unrest. In October of 2014 a federal judge dismissed [JURIST report] Ferguson protesters’ lawsuit against police. In August of 2015 a new Municipal Court judge in Ferguson ordered sweeping reforms of courtroom practices following a damning federal report of racial bias [JURIST report]. The Department of Justice report released last year cleared [JURIST report] the former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson from federal prosecution for Brown’s death. Former attorney general Eric Holder additionally stated that the report showed that racial disparities in police practices could not be alternatively explained other than through racial bias, which he says is proven through statistics and an examination of records and emails.